Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-08-05

tried to get as much money as they could ont
of the people to help them build their depots.
and the real estate men profited by the sales
of property.
"The Rock Island railroad wanted for in
stance, TO locate its depot on Douglass street.
which is, you know, one of the two chief
business streets of the town, and was the best
place for depot The property holders
would not, however, give the $50 900 asked
for it, and the railroad then proposed to build
the depot three-quarters of mile away on
| Oak street. This was to bring the Douglass
street men to time and they gave S25 900
more than was originally asked, or SIS, 600. to
have it put where the road really wanted it.
! The president of the road took their money
after much urging, saying he would lose
money by it, but he would to obge them.n
~
Zone of the biggest depot schemes the
Wichita man went on, twas played by u set
of property owners upon few real estate
| Spectators. In these days Spectators are
closely watched here, and the new capitalist
who comes in may be a gold mine to the
town. One day last winter grave looking
substantial, plug hated stranger arrived
here. He looked like millionaire and he
had the aspects of a good business man. He
spent several days in going about the town
and priced various properties talking of the
prospects of Wichita and its growth. AT last
when curiosity had become great among the
real estate men, he confded to several of them
that he was connected with the Pennsylvania
Central Railroad company and that that com
pany proposed to extend its western terminus
from Chicago to Wichita and he Thought they
would build big depot here This he tolI
them in strict confidence and they jumped at
the scheme. They looked upon linn as one of
the grand mogulS of the road and offered him
S25, 100 cash to tell them where he was going
to locate the depot He took it and fixed the
place on Main street near Orme The
land was low, and was apparently a bad
place for o depot. However, the real
estate men We're too big with their scheme to
consider this, and they at once began to buy
the property surrounding this point. Strange
to them, the prices asked were rather biph
and the owners of the property wanted more
than had ever been asked before. They
bought, nevertheless, and paid cash Some
of them We're connected with the Wichita
and Western railway, whose track came in
near TIE proposed spot. After they had
bought several blocks it leaked out that the
whole matter was put up job, that the
clever plug hated PENNSYLVANIA railroad
man had been paid to play his part and
| NlItb he utNl S'ultll u greater amount
from the property holders for doing it
than from the real estate men. He
has not been seen in Wichita since
he got his last $4,000, and the real estate
men still hold their surprisingly high priced
depot property. The outlines of the fraud
were published in the papers here. but the
men taken in begged the reporters to keep it
qu IT, s*4
HAS there been anything of this kind in
business property"
"Yes Tho Fourth avenue business scheme
took in horde Of real estate agents. It was
operated 10y several of the property holders,
and aided by the newspapers in part. Fourth
avenue is a side street. half a mile Off from
Main 1t lies parallel with the railway track.
and the scheme in part was TO make it a
wholesale street, with the backs of the stores
facing the track. 1t cuts Douglass street.
which is the other business street. One
Wednesday morning in last Febrr-,S Nts
on this street were worth from $1,000 to
50 900 apiece. They We're not very desirable
for residence, and no one thought of them
being good business lots, except at the juno
ton with Douglass. One Thursday morning
il was announced that the W ichita and South
western Hardware company had been organ-
lied with {. capital of $2jO,00O and that
Cll0lltT uil btcIl Nihtll oub Lpl lH' Sttllle ut
building was to be erected on this avenue
and work was to begin at once. 1t was also
announced that the new Matthewson Acad-
envy of Music was to he located here and a
number of the property owners along the
street, specified by name stated that they in
tended to erect three and five story buildings
for wholesale houses, and the paper ventured
the prediction that this light mean the begin
ming of the great wholesale street of the town.
The day that this was published Fourth
avenue swarmed with real estate agents and
property Jumped from the former figures to
as high as $1,000 per lot Of 25xl50 feet. By
10 a. m. there We're not enough hitChing posts
to tie the horses OF the real estate buyers.
The sales of Thursday, published i'll Friday S
papers, made the matter worse, and the craze
lasted till Sunday, when the people got time
to think and the prices began to fall, In the
meantime the older residents had sold out,
and the property was almost all III the hands
of new purchasers. Now the great hardware
store has failed to materialize, the Academy
of Music finds defect in tine title to the land
it was about to buy, and Fourth avenue is
destined to remain as it was before, second
class residence street
.**
} Another way in which Wichita has in
creased its available building space has been
by its colleges, and these schemes are also
) founded upon real estate speculation.
: When the town was mad the lead
: ing churches of Wichita advertised that they
= were going to establish great colleges in
the new city and asked bids in land and
? money for the location Of the site, The
property holders responded literally, and big
) buildings are either projected or are going up
in a half dozen different parts OF the country
: surrounding OF course the property about
these colleges has become desirable residence
property and the colleges have gotten a nice
endowment fund from the sale of tho lots
which they have laid out The farmers who
= gave tho land have made fortunes from the
increase in the value Of the property they had
left, and it is all a great scheme which seems to
make everybody richer and to hurt no one.
The first of these colleges was Garfield uni
versity, founded by the Christian church. 1t